Jacket for tooth mountings



Feb. 7, 1939. M. B. GEO RGE JACKET FOR TOOTH MOUNTINGS Filed May 4, 1937 Patented Feb. 7, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to the class of dentistry and pertains particularly to improvements in the construction and securing in place of artificial teeth.

The present invention has for its primary object to provide an improved and novel means of fitting porcelain facings to root stumps in place of the usual procedure of applying a full porcelain crown, which means is accomplished through the use of a novel pressed metal jacket or coping designed for application to the tooth stump and to have a porcelain facing fused thereto.

Another object of the invention is toprovide a jacket or coping designed to facilitate the attachment of an artificial porcelain tooth to the stump of a natural tooth under conditions where the application of the usual all porcelain jacket crown would be impossible due to a bite condition which would apply such a strain to a porcelain crown that its durability would be doubtful.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel metal jacket designed, as previously stated, primarily to facilitate the application of an artificial porcelain tooth or facing to a natural tooth and which may also be used as an abutment to carry a bridged tooth by reason of the exposure upon its lingual surface of a portion of the metal of the jacket to which the said bridged tooth may be soldered. The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention -is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a View in side elevation of a tooth which has been ground down to form the stump portion 3 to which the artificial tooth is to be attached.

The present invention consists in the provision of a jacket 4 which is preferably pressed from a solid sheet of a suitable metal, such as platinum, and which is designed to receive the tooth stump 3 in the manner illustrated. It is contemplated to prepare these jackets in the form shown but in different sizes ready for application to a tooth stump. The jacket is pressed into a cup-like form and it is preferred that the lingual or palatal third, which is generally designated by the bracketed area marked 5, be of approximately thirty gauge thickness. This thirty gauge thickness of material will extend around the entire gingival or gum margin of the jacket.

The entire labial or front surface of the jacket, generally indicated by the bracketed area marked 6, will preferably have a forty gauge thickness where it tapers toward the incisal or biting edge of the tooth.

The coping or jacket, on the lingual side close to the incisal or biting edge, is provided with a groove 1 which extends from the mesial to the distal at the sides of the jacket, terminating at each end in the dove-tailed groove formation indicated by the numeral 8.

This coping or jacket is intended to fit over the properly prepared peg of any tooth, completely enveloping the peg and extending under the gum line so as to protect the tooth from decay.

The numeral 9 indicates generally a porcelain front. This body simulates the removed front portion of the natural tooth and it is applied to the labial face of the jacket and formed to entirely cover the same as illustrated and is secured thereto by fusion. The rear side of the porcelain front is suitably recessed as indicated at ID to fit the labial and incisal surfaces of the jacket and in the process of fusing the front or tip to the jacket, some of the porcelain material will enter the grooves and 8 and thus effect a locking connection between the two bodies. The jacket will extend only a slight distance over the lingual surface of the jacket as illustrated and thus after the artificial tooth has been applied, the lower teeth of the patient, should the patient have a close bite, will ride over the lingual surface of the jacket and thus all of the biting strain will be taken up by this portion of the tooth instead of by the porcelain body. In all porcelain jacket crown work, such crowns can only be used under certain favorable circumstances. If the patient has a close bite, the all porcelain jacket crown is not strong enough to withstand the biting pressure and, therefore, could not be used under such conditions. a

As previously stated, the jackets will. be marketed in a number of different sizes so that each dentist may keep on hand sizes to be fitted to different sized teeth. When a porcelain faced crown is to be put in, the dentist or operator will first select a jacket of suitable size and prepare the tooth stump for snug insertion thereinto. The porcelain facing will then be applied to the jacket by fusing the same on in the manner described and the jacket will then be applied to the stump and secured by a suitable cement.

As stated, the gingival edge of the jacket will be forced in between the tooth and gum margin so that the entire body of the tooth stump will be covered and protected against decay.

Another advantage in the invention resides in the fact that the exposure of the metal jacket upon the lingual side of the same provides means for attaching a bridged tooth to the jacket by which an increased strength of the bridge structure is obtained at reduced cost to the patient.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the jackets constituting the present invention may be conveniently stamped or pressed from a solid sheet of the selected metal andmay be provided in various sizes for ready adaptation to the prepared stump of a tooth. It will also be apparent that by the use of the present jacket for applying a porcelain veneer face, strong lifelike artificial teeth may be readily applied to a live natural tooth, whereas other methods requiring the use of pins inserted in the tooth necessitate the removal of the tooth nerve so that the artificial tooth is mounted upon a dead root. Such practice is highly unsatisfactory because of the frequent complications which arise from leaving dead tooth roots in the gums for the support of artificial teeth.

I claim: 1. As a new article of manufacture, a seamless pressed metal jacket adapted to receive the stump of a tooth and having a convexly curved labial face against which a portion of a porcelain jacket is adapted to position, and a concavely curved lingual surface merging with the labial face to form an incisal edge, the jacket having a groove formed in the lingual surface adjacent said edge and extending to and terminating in the distal surfaces in a divided groove, the said grooves being designed to receive a portion of a a single piece of the metal and having a substantially constant wall thickness thru substantially one-third of its extent from the gingival edge and gradually increasing in thickness to the incisal area, a groove formed in and across the lingual area of the jacket in close proximity to said incisal area and extending up the opposite sides of the jacket, and a porcelainfacing having an upper portion covering the labialarea of the jacket and the area in which said groove 7 I is formed and secured in the groove and to said labial area by fusion.

MYRTLE B. GEORGE. 

